Traffic regulator



July 17, 1923. 5 1,462,266

G.C.DEGNER TRAFFI C REGULATOR Filed Nov. 3, 1920 INVENTOR.

feo/ye @jeg/zelf,

uA TTORNE Y.

Patented July 17, 19231 PATENT oFFicEL GEORGE C. DEGNER, 0F LONG BEACH,CALIFORNIA.

TRAFFIC REGULATOR.

Application med November 3, 1920. Serial No. 421,538.

To all whom t may concer/n,

Be it known that I, GEORGE C. pacman, a citizen of the United States,residing at lLon Beach, county of Los Angeles, State ofalifornia, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in a Traffic B egulator, ofwhich the following'is a specification.

My invention relates to traffic signals for regulatingv traffic, and hasfor its object to provide automatic means for timing, indicating anddirecting the direction of traffic onstreets for the purpose -ofavoiding collisions and accidents, a particular Vpurpose being topromote safety at street corners and intersections.

A particular object of my invention is to provide a traffic regulatingsignal embodying intermittently operated signal elements combined with ameans for designating an interval of time preceding the operation of asignal element the moment at which the signal element is to be operated,so that the traffic may be informed as to the length of time that willlapse before a change in the signal takes place.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

In the ordinary ltraffic regulating signals, such as are employed atstreet intersections, a signal usually consisting of a semaphore arm orlight is operated to direct traffic to stop on one street and to proceedon the other; the signals being held for an interval of time duringwhich traffic is to stop at the intersection on one street -and to moveacross the intersection on the street, and after the lapse of time thesignals are changed to direct the traffic moving toward the intersectionto stop and to indicate to previously stopped traffic to go ahead. Itfrequently occurs that the driver of a vehicle reaches the streetintersection about the moment the signal changes and either proceedsjust as the signal changes directing him to stop, or he comes to a fullstop immediately before the signal changes to direct him to proceedresulting in confusion and loss of time. By the use of my invention thedriver of a vehicle may be informed in advance 'ust when the signal isto change, so that if e is stopped he may make'ready to proceed theinstant he is directed to do so and if he is underway and approachingthe street intersection he can determine whether to continue moving orto slow down or to stop according to the given signal and to the lengthof time that will lapse before the signal changes, thus'avoidingunnecessary stopping and consequent delays.- f c In the accompanyingdrawing, which illustrates my invention.

- `Figure 1 is a perspective view of the. ndicator complete as itappears in operaion.

Figure 2 is a central vertical section of the top. portion, containingthe timing and indicating apparatus.

. Figure 3 is a side view of the cam cylinder ,which operates andcontrols the indicator arms. o Y

Figure 4 is an inverted plan view of the cam cylinder; and,

Figure 5 is a fragmental sectional view of the base casing.

More specifically, 1 designates a base, 2 a casing mounted on the basehaving a side opening closed by a door 3, luindicates a tubular postextending upwardly from the casing, and 5 denotes a housing carried bythe post preferably quadrangular in form and having in each of its fourfaces a transparent dial 6. The base, casing, and post are here shown asa support for the housing, but any other suitable supporting means maybe employed.

A vertical shaft 7 extends through the post and seats in a bearing 8 inthe bottom of casing 2 and projects at its upper end through a bearingpost 9 into the housing 5. The shaft 7 is designed to be rota-ted in asuitable manner; the mechanism for this purpose being here shown ascomprising a worm gear 10 fixed on the shaft 7 in the casing 2 andmeshing with a worm 11 connected with an electric motor 12 located inthe casing V2, which motor constitutes a source of power.

Mounted on the shaft 7 in the housing 5 is a bevel gear 13 which mesheswith and drives bevel pinions 14 fixed on short shafts 15 mounted in thebearing post 9. The outer ends of the shafts extend through the dials 6and have indicating hands 16 adapted to traverse the dials, referablyclockwise, on rotation of the sha t 15. 'Suitable fixed indicia areprovided on the dials or adjacent thereto with which the hands haverelative movement.

' In the housing 5 are pivoted four indicating or directing lever arms18, one on each side, which are adapted to swing to horizon tal positionby gravity, as in Figures 1 and 2. or to be swung into upright positionwithin the housing through slots 19 therein, as in Figure l. by actionof the cam cylinder 1T fixedlv mounted on the shaft 7; The camcylinder.embodies a pair of complementary cam tracks 1T each comprisinga portion a concentric with the shaft, an inclined portion I) connectingwith the portion a and leading inwardly toward the shaft, and ahorizontal portion c formed on the underside of a horizontal plate (Zand formed in continuation of the upper part of the inclined portion I).The undersides of the portions c and b, and the outer vertical face ofthe portion a constitute the working surfaces of the cam tracks; theunderside of portion b being formed in continuation of the outer face ofportion a and of the under face of portion c. The arms 1S are arranged'in pairs. the two members of each pair opposite each other. and bearingcorresponding indicia. such as Stopf or (iro. and theI cam tracks 1T onthe cylinder 17 are so arlanged that when one pair of arms is down inhorizontalv position. the inner ends of the arms will extend beneath thehorizontal portions o of the cam tracks .17 as shown in full lilies inFigure 2. the-other pair of arms will be raised andl stand in verticaiposition with their inner ends abutting against the vertical faces ofthe portions (L of the cam tracks. as indicated in dotted lilies inFigure Q. The edge of the plate d is formed with a pair of projections eadapted on rota-tion of the cam cylinder to strike the inner edge of theouter portions of the upwardly extending signal arms so as to rock thelatter forwardly and insure their gravitating to their normal horizontalpositions. lVithin the housing 5, back of the transparent dials areelectric lamps 20, one .for each dial, which, in thenight time, arethrown into circuit and illumine the dials so that the hands 16 may beclearly seen.

On the top of the housing 5, is mounted a transparent globe 21, havingwithin it an electric` lamp (not shown) to light it in the night time.and radiating from. the globe are four arms .22 which point towardsv thesides of the housing and carry respectively the letters E. lV. N. S.which, taken in connection with the. indications on the outstanding arms18 serve to indicate the direction in which traflic may. or may not,move.

In the operation of the invention, the shaft? is rotated therebyeffecting rotation of the hands 16 over the dials` preferably with acontinuous uniform motion by action of the gears 13 and 14. On rotationof the cam cylinder 17 by the shaft 7 the arms 18 will be acted on bythe cam tracks 17 and caused to swing vertically into an upwardlyextending position with an intermittent movement in the followingmanner; the horizontally extending arms having their inner endsprojecting beneath the horizonal portions c of the cam tracks will beengaged by the inclined portions b which as the cam revolves will act todepress the inner ends of the arms until the outer portions of the armsassume a substantially vertical position in which position the arms willbe maintained stationary `by the cam portions a during the time thelatter are engaged with the arms. When the cam portions a pass fromengagement with the arms, the projections e act to tilt the armsoutwardly whereupon they swing to their normal horizontal positions, inwhich positions they remain for an interval of time until reengaged bythe inclined portions of the cam tracks. The signal arms are designed tobe operated in such relation to the movement of the hands that when thelatter assume a predetermined position on the dial, such as whenpointing upwardly, one pair of arms will drop and the other pair willrise; the pairs of arms thus a1- ternately operating at the terminationof a rotation of the hands and the arms remaining in their dropped orsignaling position during the major part of the time during which thehands complete a revolution. By this arrangement the moving hands willindicate the length of time that will pass between the changes ofposition of the signaling arms and will denote the moment at which thesignaling arms are to operate, for example, assuming the movement of thehands to be timed to make a complete revolution in one minute, anobserver could then determine b v the position of the hand on the dialapproximately the length of time that would lapse before the signal armswould change position, as for instance should the hands be approachingclose to the upwardly extending position the driver of a vehicle orother observer would know that but a few seconds would lapse until thesignal would change and could act accordingly. and should the driver ofa vehicle observe that the hands had just passed the vertical positionhe would know that the signai had been operated but a short time beforeand that there would be a considerable lapse of time before it wouldchange again and could govern his vehicle. accordingly.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided an effectivemeansl for indicating in advance the moment at which an intermittentlyoperated signal will be actuated, and while I have shown and described aspecific mechanism for effecting this result it is obvious that anysuitable apparatus may he used to accomplish the same purpose, so ltherefore do not limit myself to the exactdetails and constructionshown, but' may employ such changes in construction and equivalents ofparts as may come within the scope of the appended claims; the essentialfeature of the signal residing in an intermittently operable signalelement and a co-operatin timed element having movement or in icatingmovement relative to a fixed point to designate the moment at which theintermittent signal is to operate.

Having now `described my invention, I claim:

l. In a traffic regulating device, a pivoted indicating arm, acontinuously rotatable shaft, means on said shaft for actuating said armintermittently, a dial, a hand pivotally arranged to traverse said dial,means for rotating said hand from said shaft, and indicia on said di'alfor indicating in conjunction with said hand premonitory movement ofsaid arm.

2. A traic regulator comprising a supporting base, a vertical tubularpost rising therefrom, a rectangular casing mounted on said post andhaving in each side thereof a transparent dial, a pivoted `indicatingarm in each side of the casing normally standing in .horizontalposition,4 extending outwardly, a continuously rotatable shaft extendingthrough said post into the casing, a cam cylinder on said shaft coactingwith said arms to intermittently turn them into vertical position, agear wheel on the shaft, short horizontal shafts mounted in the casinggeared with said gear wheel and extending out through said dials andcarrying hands on their outer ends to indicate on said dials themovements and positions of the cams of said cam cylinder.

3. In a traiiic regulator a rectangular casing having in each side atransparent dial and a vertical slot above each dial, indicator armspivotally mounted within the casing opposite the respective slots andadapted to move therethrough into, and from, horizontal or verticalpositions; short horizontal shafts mounted within the casing andextending outward through said. diails and carrying hands on their outerends, a vertical rotatable-shaft extending into said casing throughthe'bottom thereof, a cam cylinder on said shaft coacting with saidindicator arms to intermittently raise them from horizontal to verticalposition, a gear connection between said vertical and horizontal.

shafts to rotate the latter from the former,

and means for rotating said vertical shaft.

4. In an automatic traiic regulating signal, the combination of anintermittently operable signal for signaling traic, and a visible signaladapted to indicate in advance at all times between operations of theintermittent signal the moment at which the intermittent signal is to beoperated.

5. In a traic regulating signal, the combination of an intermittentsignal element for signaling traiic, and a timed movable signai elementfor designating in advance at all times between operations of theintermittent signal element the moment at which the intermittent signalelement is to be operated.

6. In a traiic regulating-signal, the combination of an'intermittentsignal element for signaling traflic, and a timed movable indicatorhaving movement relative to a fixed point for designating at all timesbetween operations of the intermittent signal element to an observer themoment when the signal element will operate.

7. In a -traiiic regulating signal, a trafc signal ele-ment, means foroperating said signal 'element at predetermined intervals alternatelyinto signaling and non-signaling condition, and an indicator forindicating at all times in advance when the signal element 'is to changefrom its signaling or non-signalin@ conditions.

8. In a traiiic regulatin signal, an alternating traiiic signal foresignating either stop or go at predetermined intervals and a secondsignal co-operating with said first named signal to indicate at alltimes in advance the time at which the latter is to change.

9.v In a traflic regulating signal, a movable hand mounted to traverse apath relative to a fixed point, an intermittent traffic signal, andmeans whereby said intermittent signal, will operate at the time thehand reaches the fixed point said hand acting to inform an observer themoment at which the signal is to operate.

10. In a traiic regulating signal, a dial, a rhand mounted to traversesaid dial, means for turning said hand, a traffic signal, and means foroperating said signal when the hand reaches a predetermined point onsaid dial, said hand acting to inform an observer the moment when thesignal is to operate.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature hereto.

GEORGE C. DEGNER.

lll

